Success & Kabbalah

According to Kabbalah the secret for having success in life, lies within the story of Joseph, which is the Merkava (Chariot) of Sefirat Yesod – the Sefira that connects the Sefirot of the upper worlds to the last Sefira, Sefirat Malkhut, which represent our material world and our mundane needs.

Kabbalah teaches that our connection to Sefirat Yesod is the main condition for our success. In order to learn how to make this connection, Kabbalah is using the story of Joseph, from which it derives few rules that if we follow them will arrive at the secrets of success.

According to the biblical story, Joseph was born with a silver spoon in his mouth to Rachel the matriarch – the woman Jacob loved the most. Jacob gave Joseph the famous multicolor coat. Jacob invested in Joseph much more than in his brothers. The Biblical story tells us that Joseph had many dreams, some of which he shared with his brothers, and in his dreams he describes how he accede the throne and how his brothers bow before him. The brothers were envy of him, due to his special relationship with their father, and could not handle the situation anymore; so, they decided to get rid of him. At first they wanted to kill him, however, finally, they threw Joseph into an empty pit, which the Midrash says that was filled with snakes and scorpions.

However, Josep is not harmed; he was sold to an Ishmaelite caravan which passed by on its way to Egypt, where he was sold as a slave to Potifar, who was a very strong man in Pharaoh’s government. It was not so long after, that Potifar realized that Joseph is an asset and he promotes him to be in charge of his property and his business. Joseph is having problems with Potifar’s wife, who covet him, and when he refuses her she incriminates him and he is thrown to jail.

However, even there everyone knows him and his abilities, and in particular two VIP prisoners – Pharaoh’s baker and his wine steward – who get their dreams to be interpreted by Joseph, what led later on to the solving of Pharaoh’s dream (the seven thin cows and the seven fat cows) in a very short and unprecedented “performance” which afterwards Joseph receives Pharaoh’s wand and signet ring and he becomes the Viceroy, the person in charge of the Egyptian empire, by this his childhood dreams have been almost completely fulfilled. Later on, when his brothers come to Egypt for food and supplies, they bow down in front of the powerful Viceroy of Egypt without knowing it’s their lost brother and that is how the dreams have been completely fulfilled.

What can we get from Joseph’s story? What is behind every detail of that story (since we know that the Torah is not detailing in vain)?

Kabbalah uses this story in order to teach us few rules that will lead us towards our success.

In order to learn these rules and to listen to a study about success, please enter the downloads page of our Community site: